I noticed this for the first time after the fall update or after Comcast Video On Demand being enabled (I'm not sure which). It is happening on both my Premiere Elite (20.2.2-01-2-758) and Premier (20.2.2-01-2-746).

I don't think this has ever happened on the "current" tuner, but am not 100% positive about that.

The behavior (intermittently) is that if I switch to one of the other tuners, either with the Live TV button, or using the Info button and then selecting a different tuner, the video output is black and the progress bar is showing the green triangle to indicate it's playing. The channel banner displays the name of the current show on that channel. I can rewind a little and start playback, and it plays until it gets back to the point it was at when I switched to that tuner, and freezes (I presume if I were to stare at it long enough it would go to a black display).

It's clearly not the current show (one time it was a show from 1-2 hours ago, another time it was a show from the previous day).

I don't believe that me interacting with VOD (which needs a tuner) is causing this, as it's happening on the (2-tuner) Premiere that I rarely watch, and I haven't done VOD on that one other than right after it was enabled.

I have rebooted fairly recently and the problem persists.

Changing the channel make the problem go away (not surprisingly). What I'm not sure about is, if the TiVo decides to record something on that same channel, whether it will blindly try to record without switching channels (which might cause it to try to record the garbage on that tuner).

I don't believe I have missed any recordings due to this - the only obviously wrong recordings (that I've seen so far) were likely due to either sports or election coverage running late.

At worst I've seen two tuners in this state on the Premiere Elite, and one tuner in this state on the Premiere.

This is on Comcast (Seattle area) so no SDV or tuning adapter is involved.

YES! Came here today to see if anyone else is having this problem. I wasn't sure what to call it, but "stalling" describes it well. I have the 4-tuner Elite and if I switch to another tuner using the "Info" button and selecting an already tuned station, I frequently end up with a black screen and the progress bar showing either the past 30 minutes, or as you observed, sometimes a half-hour segment that was recorded hours ago. I can rewind through the recorded segment and play that video, but as soon as it gets to the end of that the picture goes black.

The only thing (other than a reboot) I've found to fix it, is to channel up or down several times to reset all the tuners to new channels -- that seems to "wake up" the stuck tuner(s) for a time.

But this keeps happening. So far I've not found it to have prevented a show from recording, so maybe it's the action of tuning to that non-current tuner that causes it to freeze.

I had enormous problems getting Xfinity on demand to work (new cable card and after many phone calls finally finding the right person who knew enough to see that they didn't have all the codes from my TiVo that they needed), but XFinity is working now.

I too had the problem arise when the new software update and Xfinity dropped, so not sure which it was. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and call TiVo...

I've seen this happen only once a while back. I have a Tivo HD that is connected via antenna (OTA).

I turn on the TV and see a picture but it is frozen. I expected I was going to have to reboot, but that wasn't the case.
The buffer was frozen in time. I could RW and watch what was there, but at the end the Tivo would just freeze on a black screen.
Rewinding led me to figure out what the program was and by looking at the guide, I found out it was stuck that way for 5 hours.

Changing the channel "woke up" the tuner, but it also destroyed any evidence of finding out what happened. I should have looked at the DVR diagnostics before I changed the channel.

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I've seen issues like this occasionally and its always related to my Tuning Adapter and SDV channels. Not sure if its the Tivo not telling it what to do correctly or some issue with the TA itself. The stream the Tivo is tuned to seems to get switched away at the head end

I am having the exact same problem on both my Premiere's since the update. If you leave it alone for 3 hours or more, the 2nd tuner will go black. You can rewind and you get a picture, but as soon as it catches up to when you switched to it, it goes black again. Happens every day since the upgrade. The only way to get around it is to change the channel and then back again. No SDV or external adapters attached.

I am so glad someone brought this up. I have noticed this problem also. It only happens, and not all the time, when I try to switch to a tuner using the info button on the peanut remote. It is so weird - last night at 11:20, the problematic channel showed the very first few seconds of Dexter, which had begun 20 minutes earlier, and then went black - and the only way I could get anything on that channel was to go to Settings - Channels - Signal Strength.

I just got the update on my other box, an XL4, and haven't noticed if this problem recurs there also.

It happened again, as I was writing the last post. This time, however, the Tivo did something entirely new. I used the input button to go to channel 1950, which it said was Showtime showing "50/50." Instead, however, I got a weird porno-type show called "Dave's Old Porn," which as far as I can tell is not currently being shown on any of the channels I get. There was the green line near the bottom of the screen showing that this had been taping for the last half hour. However, it froze up within seconds after I tuned to it. I could go back a full half hour, and that is how I found out the name of the show that was on the tuner. What is even more weird is that the input button's listing of tuners also showed another tuner on 1950 with "50/50" and when I tuned to it, that show was showing.

It happened again, as I was writing the last post. This time, however, the Tivo did something entirely new. I used the input button to go to channel 1950, which it said was Showtime showing "50/50." Instead, however, I got a weird porno-type show called "Dave's Old Porn," which as far as I can tell is not currently being shown on any of the channels I get. There was the green line near the bottom of the screen showing that this had been taping for the last half hour. However, it froze up within seconds after I tuned to it. I could go back a full half hour, and that is how I found out the name of the show that was on the tuner. What is even more weird is that the input button's listing of tuners also showed another tuner on 1950 with "50/50" and when I tuned to it, that show was showing.

What is going on?

It could have had something to do with your cable company or showtime. It has happened MANY times where porn came on channels during odd times

I have the same problems and I already replaced the cable card twice already. Since I am a newbie on the board, I can't send a PM to you. Can you email me directly so I can provide my information to you?

Thanks,

Ernest

Last edited by ernestclau; 11-28-2012 at 09:41 PM.
Reason: more information

J
On both of the TiVos, every entry for the misbehaving tuner was blank (i.e. showed a dash) *except* the following:
Tuner: 0 (or 1)
CableCARD Association: None
RC State: Available
Current Tuning Status: Not Tuned: General Tune Error
Tune State: Not Tuned

Yeah, I just realized that this is what is happening for me too.

Also, for the Cablecard
Decrypt Record Channels 3 (2 3 1)

when turner 0 is at fault.
Changing the channel on tuner 0 makes it return to the normal
Decrypt Record Channels 4 (2 3 1 0)

Do I need to call in if I sent you a private email with my service numbers?

And FYI, on the TiVo with the problem, my Elite box with four tuners, service # 758-2001-901F-BB54, the DVR Diagnostics screen is blank. On my other box, a two-tuner XL on which I've not yet seen this problem - although I view it much less frequently, there IS a working screen on DVR Diagnostics.

I purchased a Tivo Premier recently and started having this exact same problem yesterday. I called and was told that its a Comcast Issue. However, no matter what I do I can not get that channel unstuck. I changed both tuners, and I can still not watch NBC, I get a blank screen and when I rewind I get a show from yesterday. I even re-set up my old Tivo and NBC works fine, so its not a Comcast issue.

I have had Tivos for 7 years now and this is my third, I have never had a problem before and always got a new one while the old one was still working. This time I broke down and got a lifetime subscription and am wonder if it was a mistake.

I was beginning to wonder. You would think there would have been a global announcement about TiVo support becoming active on the forum.

I think his posts being deleted proves he works for TiVo, and his "help" here wasn't sanctioned by them.

Yes, It was real. I submitted my info to him and received the following response via email from TiVo:

Thank you for your continued patience in working with us on the blank tuner issue you reported. Your Premiere unit recently received our most current software release 20.2.2.1. We are optimistic that this release may have corrected the blank tuner issue you encountered when attempting to tune to your second tuner after not using the TiVo for a period of time. Please let us know if your unit is still having this issue, if so we will be happy to continue working on it for you. Thank you for being a TiVo customer!

The case reference number referring to this issue is xxxxxx-xxxxxx. Please continue to use this case number should you contact us in regards to this particular issue. In order to reply to this email, please log into My Support at www.tivo.com/mysupport. Replies directly to this email will not be received.